Twilight has made friends since arriving in Ponyville, but still feels somewhat... lonely. Octavia finds herself isolated in high society, and her passion has left her, leaving her... empty. Can these two find what they need in each other?

When Rarity's secret hobby is discovered, suddenly all her friends want her help in completing their own writing projects. But why do they all need to be done by Hearts and Hooves Day? It's only a week away!

Minuette likes strong drinks, good-looking stallions, and Twilight Sparkle (who upon occasion has been known to be a good-looking stallion). Oh, and she's the physical embodiment of the metaphysical concept of 'Time'.

Together, they have a perfectly happy (if complicated) relationship. But Ponyville has more than its fair share of mysteries, and when trouble comes knocking... Minuette is there to pretend she's not home.

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This story is a continuation of sorts to A Stallion for the Time Being, though reading it is not strictly necessary. These short standalone stories are a change of pace for me, focused on Twilight and Minuette dealing with a variety of supernatural shenanigans. More to come as ideas strike me!

Twilight carefully broke the seal and unrolled the scroll, finding a list of potion ingredients. The other two mares jostled for position trying to read over her shoulder.“Hm,” Twilight said. “Black pepper is easy. And I know those herbs, this shouldn’t be hard...”“Uh. Except for this?” Minuette pointed a hoof at the last item on the list. “The heart of an orphan (freshly harvested),” she read out loud.

Then a rabbit hopped out from behind a tree. Followed by a squirrel. They kept coming, until the three ponies were ringed by a huge assortment of woodland critters, including chickens, songbirds, chipmunks, and a confused-looking housecat.

I'm pretty sure there should be a Romance tag on this. I mean, I know there's not much of an emphasis on Minuette and Twilight being together, but the rule is "if two characters are in a romantic relationship".

3051128No, humans, and even Snips and Snails, are capable of basic sapient thought, and speech. If she gave the instructions on what to say, they could manipulate her foes into whatever state she wanted, while she does something else. Zomera, on the other hand, has an army of sentient, but not sapient, CUTE LITTLE WOODLAND CREATURES.

The second one will go up this Thursday at the latest. Just trying to pace myself... I have some more ideas that I'm being slow in writing up, and I'd rather aim for one a week than everything at once.

3060738 or the woodland critters thing could have been a call to that South Park episode with the demonic devil worshiping Christmas critters, I forget that episode's name but now that i think back on this chapter, I do see a bit of it in there

Pinot Noir, huh? If that was an intentional reference to her originally-intended name, then I applaud you.

Well, that was a good name either way.

Anyway, I'll be favoriting this as well, of course. It obviously doesn't really involve the shipping that got me interested, but hey, it has Twilight and Minuette. And is funny. So that's enough for me.

“A-and the heart of an orphan?”“Oh, me me me!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “So a couple of days ago I got this great idea to have open mic comedy night at Sugarcube Corner! Only no one really wanted to go first, so I did, and I’ve been practicing super hard for the baby Cakes, so I’m pretty great, but then I think everyone was still uncertain because no one was laughing even though it was amazingly funny! I mean, don’t you think that—”Twilight nudged her gently.“Oh, right! Anyways, then somepony threw a tomato at me and I caught it because hey! Free tomato! Only it was a little bit rotten and that was a couple of days ago so...”Zomera took a step back. “S-so then, my concoction of ultimate power was... was...”“Vegetable stew,” Twilight said.“But... but...” Another bright red spot broke out on Zomera’s coat, followed soon by a third and fourth. “But I’m allergic to tomatoes!”

“Right, so, I figured what she really needed was some practical help. It’s a hard thing to quit cold turkey. That’s what I was doing at her house. I... sort of snuck in and emptied out her liquor cabinet.”

Just an FYI in case you didn't know already, but if a story is on Equestria Daily then any sequels to it don't require moderation by the pre-readers. If you submit this just as you would any other story and make it clear in the additional notes what it's a sequel to, then it'll get added onto A Stallion for the Time Being's post right away. As long as it doesn't break any of the normal rules anyway.

3095365Oh, thanks for the info! I'm not sure if I want to, in this case, as these are more similar to little side-stories than a proper sequel. I feel like I should have to have some real plot, and probably get back to more genuine romance first!

3096686Well... It is more symptomatic of the 2nd story necessitating Minuette being very very drunk. I intended it to be a character trait that Minuette enjoys drinks of an alcoholic disposition, but she wouldn't normally get as ridiculously sloshed had the story not called for it.

She likes drinking about as much as Twilight likes books. They have an understanding.

And by the way, since I just realised I failed to comment on it, well played with Zecora in the first mini story. I was going to comment that I didn't feel she was very well written, and then you just pulled the ultimate turn-around. You're a sneaky one.

anyway loved it, though i question how it is possible for a pony's blood to be alcohol then again considering that Minuette is the embodiment of time, normal pony biology probably doesn't apply to her.

also never get a drunk to go cold turkey, they apparently turn into vampires